Since The Office (US version) debuted its pilot episode on March 1st 2005, people have been hooked throughout its 9 seasons. I particularly enjoy the sitcom for its awkward storylines, painful jokes and its clever psychological implementations of clinical disorders upon its characters. The director and writer, Greg Daniels et al, brilliantly paired the characters with consistent flaws, in which they tend to make the same misjudgment. Often these mistakes lead the character to commit a serious social trouble that takes the plot somewhere interesting.
The series not only have a set of disorders, they also include certain examples of psychology topics that we learn in class. For example, in Season 3 Episode 16 (Phyllis’ Wedding), Jim used Pavlov’s experiment on Dwight by conditioning Dwight for a few weeks to desire a mint when he hears the default Windows reboot sound. In this paper, I will briefly match the characters with the psychological disorders, the symptoms plus evidence from the episodes. Before proceeding, please bear in mind that this paper contains major spoilers, hence, proceed with caution.
Michael Scott, the unqualified boss of Dunder Mifflin Scranton has ADD. His symptoms are inattentiveness, impulsiveness, does not follow through, difficulty organizing tasks and activities, difficulty understanding emotions of others. Proof: Michael's constant desire to be the center of attention often demonstrates itself in selfish behavior. For example, when invited to be an usher in Phyllis’ Wedding (S 3, E 16), he assumes that his participation will be the highlight of the ceremony and dismayed when he is upstaged by Phyllis' father. A second example of him being impulsive and childish is shown in The Golden Ticket (S5, E19). He proudly pitched the golden ticket idea and it backfires. Without further thought, he hastily forced Dwight to take the blame when David comes in. Surprisingly, the golden ticket idea turns out to be a success which Dwight takes full credit of. Michael, being the immature boss he is, tries to reclaim the credit. While we are on Michael Scott, I might as well dive into Sigmund Freud’s structural psych model, which are the Id, Ego and Superego. Michael is someone who acts upon his Id frequently. According to Freud, Michael could be characterized as being fixated in the Phallic Stage of Psychosexual Development. The conflict that must be overcome in this stage is learning that overt sexual behavior is socially unacceptable. Michael’s inappropriate jokes and comments are examples of this. His “that’s what she said jokes” are always sexual double entendres about women.
Dwight Shrute, the sycophant and most loyal staff is diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. His symptoms include impaired social interaction, lack of empathy and sympathy, idiosyncratic communication, make-believe inappropriate to developmental level, obsessed with mythical creatures, obsessed over safety which could potentially be an indication of other types of autism. This somewhat proves that vaccines don’t cause autism as the Shrute family has strict restrictions for modern commodities. In Lecture Circuit Part 1 (S5, E 16), Dwight and Jim plan a belated birthday party for Kelley Kapoor. Dwight decorates poorly with a banner that reads “IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY.” Dwight idiosyncratically explains this by saying birthdays shouldn’t be celebrated in the first place and the banner is an understandable sign of the party (proving lack of empathy and emotions). Another example of Dwight being obsessive is shown in Stress Relief (S5, E14). He deliberately caused an office fire just to test the office safety skills which results in one of the staff to be hospitalized. He doesn’t recognize limits and boundaries.
Creed Bratton clearly suffers from Schizophrenia or Schizotypy. His symptoms are disturbance of consciousness, poor clarity of awareness of the environment, reduced ability to sustain or shift attention, disorientation, memory impairment, incoherent, odd, eccentric or peculiar. He constantly mixes up the names of his colleagues, calling Angela, Andrea and referring Meredith as Mary Beth or the Red Head or my personal favourite, The Chick Michael Hit With The His Car (S4 E1). At one point, he even forgets his office title when Holly Flax asks him (S4 E14). This is probably caused by his constant substance usage such as marijuana which impairs attention and causes loss of sense of personal identity. Another theory of the cause is his troubled childhood. His father died in Hawaii when he was 2, when the airplane he was working on exploded. Childhood trauma has been proven to cause personal struggles that lead to substance abuse and other mental illnesses.
Angela Martin understandably has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She gets really upset over miniscule things, especially during her tenure as the head of the party planning committee. She has recurrent and persistent thoughts about maintaining structure and order despite anxiety and stress that they may cause, preoccupied with lists, details and organization, feels constraint to behaviors that are subject to firm rules and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics or values. An example that shows her despise of spontaneous changes is when Michael alters the Christmas party activity (S2, E10), Angela becomes upset and threw a private tantrum at the end of the day.
Kevin Malone, the guy that Holly Flax mistakes for to have mental retardation, in fact has correct symptoms of mental retardation based on my observation. Does not meet the standards of his age group for pragmatics, communication, or self-direction. This is evident in the episode Dream Team (S5, E22), He was tasked to be the temporary receptionist after Pam quits and finds it hard to do simple call forwarding duty despite Jim taught him a few times and even wrote it down for him. His social skills are below that of an average toddler. Holly rightly misinterprets his verbally capabilities because he talks in short basic sentences.
The office’s most talkative employee, Kelly Kapoor most probably would have Dependent Personality Disorder, as she is pervasive and has irrelevant fear of separation leading to clinging behavior, necessitates advice and reassurance from others. She finds the need to constantly be in a relationship even to people who are not as interested in her like the case of Darryl. Poor Darryl was stuck with Kelly and her clinginess after her Ryan ended the relationship with her (S4, E4). According to The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, pathological lying is defined as "falsification entirely disproportionate to any discernible end in view, may be extensive and very complicated, and may manifest over a period of years or even a lifetime which fully captures Kelly’s habit and personality. This is evident during her post relationship with Ryan. She lies to Ryan about being pregnant with the hope that he comes back to her again (S4 E2). She then gets extremely upset when the truth was out and threatens to harm herself which is just another way of her seeking attention. Another point of her being a pathological liar is when she falsely creates bad reviews for Jim and Dwight after they did not attend her themed party (S5, E7).
Mr. Mifflin, the co-founder of Dunder Mifflin is shown to have signs of Alzheimer’s Disease which is a significant memory loss and impairment. His symptoms are forgetfulness, confusion given his old age. In Dunder Mifflin Infinity, Michael brings Mr. Mifflin into the meeting room during Ryan’s introduction of the company’s website. Mr. Mifflin remembers certain significant moments in his life such as how he founded the company but gets confused as to how he got to the office in the first place.
Meredith Palmer, the office alcoholic ultimately suffers from alcohol dependency, substance abuse and hyperactive sexual desire. This seems like a really long list of substance dependencies but in actuality, alcohol abuse could eventually lead to other substance abuse and increase in sexual desire. It has been alluded to that she often arrives at work with a hangover, as she has complained that people talk too loudly and that the office lights are too bright in the morning. Intervention is usually a step done by loved ones to help the addicts get off the addiction, just like how the office holds an intervention when Meredith set her hair on fire after a drunken belly dance (S5, E11). She is also known for sleeping with a supplier in exchange for cheaper supplies and coupons for Outback Steakhouse (S5, E3). Her alcoholism has manifested into hypersexuality, which is common in people with substance dependency behavior.